BASEBALL DEFEATS HOST UBC IN SECOND DAY OF TOURNAMENT, PLUS DAY FOUR PLAYER BLOG

Sacramento State went head-to-head with tournament host University of British Columbia Wednesday night and defeated the Thunderbirds, 8-1. The offense got rolling early, scoring four times in the first inning before adding on with four more runs in the seventh and eighth innings. Trevor Doyle was 3-for-3 with a double and two RBIs in the win while Keith Torres added two hits, including a double, and two RBIs, as well.

On the mound, Hornets pitchers combined to allow just one run on four hits over nine innings. Sophomore pitcher Connor Sparks, a Saskatoon native and the player behind tonight's player blog, threw three hitless innings, walking one and stirking out six, including four in one inning. Hear more about the game, as well as all of Wednesday's action before the team took the field in his blog post below!

Day four of our trip to Canada was full of firsts for many people, both on our team and on the other teams in this tournament. Breakfast started off as a usual breakfast for many Canadians, but it was a first for my American teammates as they were introduced to a farmers breakfast wrap, which is possibly the best breakfast food you could ever have.

Shortly after breakfast, all the teams made their way to the Rec center at UBC for some team building activities. Here we were spilt up amongst all the other teams and competed in various activities such as spike ball, basketball, soccer, seated volleyball and dodgeball. For a lot of us, these are all typical activities that you expect everyone to know, but it seemed to be a first for some. We had to communicate with the Japanese players to teach them how to play spike ball, which was super cool and tough due to the language barrier. However, the conversations we tried having ended in lots of laughs, and ultimately some competitive spikeball. The dodgeball had a little twist on it as everyone had to throw with their non dominate arms and as I'm sure you can imagine that was quite the sight to see - top athletes from all around the world throwing a ball like they were a t-baller again.

After these activities most of us were tuckered out so we headed back to the dorms to get our pregame naps in. For myself it was hard to sleep as I was very excited to be pitching on my home soil for the first time ever as a Hornet.

Today we faced the UBC Thunderbirds who are hosting the tournament. Not knowing what to expect, we came out hot as we put up four runs in the first inning and that really sparked the team.

It was a very cool experience for two of our freshmen pitchers. Eli Saul, our starter, is actually from Vancouver and was able to throw his first collegiate innings in front of his family and friends from the area. Also, Carter Morris's (Kelowna, BC) first outing as a Hornet was on home soil and I'm sure that it is something he never imagined when he decided to continue his baseball career in the states.

Today marked the first win for the 2020 Sacramento State Hornets as the game finished up 8-1. The boys are looking to keep the momentum rolling as we have another game tomorrow against the University of Tokyo.